3. Local institutional profiles

In order to deepen understanding of a few of the more important local institutions identified in the course of field research, and their role in supporting livelihoods and alleviating poverty, further field research and analysis were carried out on six of these: dairy cooperatives and gram panchayat (India), traditional authorities, forms of mutual assistance, and churches (Mozambique), and migration associations (Mexico). Three additional institutional profiles were commissioned¹¹ to widen the scope of local institutions covered: traditional savings and credit arrangements (Tanzania), watershed development user committees (Rajasthan, India), and ancestral domain claims/community-based natural resource management - CBNRM (Cordillera, Luzon, Philippines).

Table 7 presents a summary of the main attributes of each of these institutions. They represent a wide range: from formal (dairy cooperatives, churches) to informal (mutual assistance, traditional savings and credit), from government-supported (gram panchayat, watershed user committees) to government-repressed (traditional authorities, CBNRM in Philippines), from open access (gram panchayat, churches) to more restricted access (dairy cooperatives, migration associations), and from largely economic goals (savings and credit, user committees) to wide-ranging socio-cultural and community goals (gram panchayat, mutual assistance, traditional authorities, CBNRM). The full institutional profiles are found in Annexes 4 - 12.

Dairy Co-operatives

Field research in two villages of Gujarat - Piparia and Malan - supports the literature¹² claiming that the cooperative movement in India has been very successful at expanding milk production through a well organized decentralized structure of village milk collection. At a national level the poor make up the majority of members, including large numbers of landless rural poor. However, the village case studies provide evidence that obstacles still exist for participation by the most marginalized sectors of society because of barriers of caste, land ownership and illiteracy.

Whereas the dairy memberships are multi-caste, and in some cases women-only (Piparia), there is a proportionately larger membership by the land-owning upper castes, and even more so when measured by the members who actually sell milk to the dairy on a regular basis (Annex 4). Furthermore, upper caste members typically run the managing committees.

The dairy cooperatives are open to all villagers who own at least one milk cow, which include large numbers of landless and marginal farmers. The particular advantage to village-based dairies is the collection of milk twice daily, so that the poor can supplement meagre incomes with a regular source of cash. Furthermore, the co-operative typically pays more than private traders, offers veterinary services at low cost, and professionally manages milk processing and national distribution. Profits are typically spent on community public works such as roads, health centres, sanitation, village schools and childcare centres, and thus constitute a means to redistribute wealth from the richer members to the community at large.

The main barrier to participation in a village cooperative is having the means to buy, feed and otherwise maintain cattle. Cattle-sharing arrangements are a common means for the poorest castes to own cattle, and are limited by the willingness of better-off households to engage in such arrangements and by goodwill in determining "fair" share terms. Bank credit is not an option for the very poor because of their day-to-day existence, lack of collateral and reluctance to take on risk. Access to fodder is another barrier for the landless - obtained as part of wages, part of harvest share, or from village common lands. Availability of fodder is severely restricted in dry areas. Finally, caste discrimination still influences access to land and livelihood opportunities, and high rates of illiteracy keep the poor from fully exercising their rights and participation in dairy cooperative meetings and management committees.

Gram Panchayat

The panchayat raj in India are a well-known example of decentralized governance through village, block and district assemblies, where participation by the poor and women have been mandated by law, and management committees are elected rather than nominated. It took the force of a constitutional amendment in 1995 to begin to overcome elitism, corruption and discrimination against women, and to ensure that decentralized development planning would involve widespread participation from village levels upwards.

Case studies on the gram panchayats in Malawada and Malan villages show a number of successes that would recommend an expanded role in local development for these villages. Both panchayats raise significant revenues from local services and tax collection to -spend, together with State provided funds, on community development projects - primarily social infrastructure such as roads, schools, sanitation and water provision. Another important function is to determine, through local knowledge of their communities, the households and individuals that qualify for anti-poverty government schemes (e.g. housing, employment, ration cards).

There seems to be great potential for the panchayat institution to play an important role in local economic activities as well, for instance in planning and monitoring of rural and agricultural development programmes, small enterprise and micro-finance initiatives, and market cooperatives. In Gujarat, where most gram panchayats are still dominated by the traditional powers in the villages, their leadership cannot be expected to lead to pro-poor policies and programmes. In the case of West Bengal, including the poor in development planning is a key objective: "Panchayat Raj institutions have been involved with almost all of the developmental activities of the state at the village, block and district levels.....the role of the panchayat is generally to identify the right beneficiaries, make people aware of the opportunities available to them, and ensure that the benefits actually reach their proper destination." V. Rawal, reporting on research in West Bengal (Annex 5).

In India, and around the world, democratic institutions of local governance, sanctioned by national law, are being devolved increasingly greater responsibilities for local socio-economic planning and development. These processes of decentralization hold great promise for more effective targeting of the poor, particularly as local institutions become more democratic and inclusive, and build capacities and experience in raising and managing resources.

Traditional Authorities

Traditional authorities in rural Mozambique were explored in three separate studies: Mapping Traditional Structures in Decentralization Policies (N. Messer, SDAR/FAO WP #12, a paper comparing experiences in Mozambique, Mali and Yemen), Traditional Structures In Decentralization Policies and Programmes and Rural Reality in Mozambique (I. Lundin, SDAR/FAO WP#13), and the institution profile provided in Annex 6.

Traditional community leaders or authorities often embody an historical and lineage alliance with their territory that empowers them with important rights and obligations. Their primary function is to ensure peace and harmony in the rural communities within their territory. This involves regulating access to land, as well as mediating disputes over land, thefts of crops, divorce, witchcraft and misconduct (e.g. drunkenness, wife abuse). They mobilize people to participate in community activities. In some villages, traditional authorities are the local administrative power, whereas in other villages there is also local government.

In Mozambique, the power struggle and overlapping of functions between traditional and state authorities have been a major source of tension since colonial times. The Portuguese colonial administration defined land boundaries and territories for their own purposes; at the same time many traditional chiefs lost authority over "their" own population. Under what was in effect indirect rule, the Portuguese often set up new chiefs ("regulos") that they trusted or used existing chiefs as middlemen between themselves and the rural population. The FRELIMO government of post-independence Mozambique then opted for a policy of exclusion of its customary institutions from the formal configuration of political power. The idea was to replace the traditional village authorities with party secretaries of the FRELIMO party, accountable directly to the party leaders in the national government in Maputo.

During the 17 years of civil war that ravaged the country (1975-1992), the armed RENAMO opposition took advantage of the FRELIMO stance toward traditional authorities to win them for their cause, particularly in rural areas and the north of the country. The degree of local legitimacy of traditional authorities in Mozambique varies tremendously, consequently, reflecting their pre-colonial claims, as well as their history of interaction with the Portuguese colonial regime, and the FRELIMO government and RENAMO opposition forces after independence.

Messer coordinated field research on traditional authorities in Mozambique, Mali and Yemen and wrote a comparative analysis that focuses on the actual or potential role of these authorities in natural resource management (see box below). In all three cases, past repression or cooptation of traditional authorities is giving way to greater recognition and collaboration by governments and NGOs. "Traditional community institutions, which determine the scope, configuration and social morphology of tenure regimes, have recently - often supported by NGOs - been given relatively more space to unfold, promoting the concept of 'community-based natural resource management (CBNRM)' to a more important place in mainstream development." (Messer, Mapping, p. 25)

The studies also make clear that traditional authorities vary greatly in the local legitimacy they command, and that understanding the historical, political and sociocultural factors underpinning the question of legitimacy is critical if the intent is to support democratic processes. Furthermore, traditional authorities embody social norms and practices that may be antithetical to the goals of a particular programme or project, requiring a serious assessment of the pros and cons of collaboration. "Due to a mix of historical, cultural and socio-political circumstances, the social capital embodied in traditional community leaders should sometimes be "tapped" only with great care, as much of that capital, although grounded in traditional networks of mutual assistance and solidarity, is also nested in clientelistic relations among kinship groups of unequal social status....." (Messer, Mapping, p. 28)

Mutual Assistance

Mutual assistance institutions of many forms are common in rural societies that experience chronic or seasonal shortages in labour and food, and that lack formal social services for the indigent and sick. These traditional institutions typically reflect social norms of solidarity and reciprocity, constituting a social safety net that ensures survival and relative harmony in villages with meagre livelihoods and sharp inequalities. In Mozambique, "help and mutual cooperation are based on reciprocity: the principal objective is to provide help in the present and be helped in the future." (Annex 7).

Forms of mutual assistance institutions identified in the four Mozambique villages include:

Xitique, an informal savings and credit arrangement based on mutual trust ("tontine" in West Africa). Two or more people contribute a fixed sum, which is loaned in turn to one member of the group. This traditional micro-finance arrangement has been widely replicated under the term "Rosca": Rotating Savings and Credit Associations.

Rotating work systems, practiced as a way of satisfying needs for additional farm labour. In Netia, the term Omiliha mattu signifies a group of people providing mutual help to clear land. In Zambezia, Cucumbi is a rotating production system where groups of subsistence farmers establish a calendar for free collective work in members' fields. Labour sharing is also common for building houses.

Cooperation based on exchanging work for money: The norm behind this practice is that when a family has money (or food) it should help needier families; likewise it would expect to receive the same kind of help in times of crisis.

Exchange of work for food or drink: This consists of exchanging individual or group labour for some kind of food or traditional drink. Ethima o mata waka in Netia is when meals are provided for workers when their task has been completed. Omiliha makhaka is also practised, where help is provided in the fields in exchange for dried cassava.

Cooperation based on breeding livestock: This type of practice is carried out by families who want to start breeding livestock; the interested family asks to "borrow" animals from another family and care for them until they reproduce, thereafter the owner gives one of the young and sometimes a pair in compensation. Kuvequelissana in Djavanhane and Kubiquisselana in Massoane are carried out with chickens, goats and cows.

Mutual assistance also encompasses collective work efforts in emergencies (e.g. fighting floods, drought, disease epidemics, pest infestations), and for building and maintaining community infrastructure and culture (e.g. roads, schools, clinics, churches, football clubs, dance clubs, traditional healers’ associations). Traditional authorities often play the role of mobilizing this type of collective action, sometimes with the help of churches and the financial support of local government or NGOs.

Equally important to these "horizontal arrangements" are the informal forms of wealth redistribution from better off villagers (e.g. chiefs, shopkeepers, larger landowners and merchants) to the very poor and sick, typically through small loans and gifts of cash, food and other basic needs. Without formal means for redistribution through taxation and income transfers, and lacking effective agricultural and market development, these traditional institutions for mutual assistance and redistribution largely explain the absence in rural villages of more severe social problems¹³.

Churches

Churches have proliferated in rural Mozambique during and after the civil war playing a significant non-partisan role in national unification and peace (Table 8). Since 1992 there have been complete religious freedom and open cooperation between government and churches to distribute emergency assistance and mobilize rural populations to participate in national reconstruction.

"Since 1995, the Christian Council of Mozambique (a forum of Protestant churches) has implemented a project to "transform guns into hoes". This consists of collecting rifles and other objects from the war and exchanging them for hoes and other agricultural production materials.... The CCM intends to establish a culture of peace through this project, helping the transition from a state of war." (Annex 8)

Table 8: Churches in Mozambique and Percentage of Believers, 1997¹⁴
(over 5 years old)

Historically, churches in Mozambique have played an important role in promoting literacy and education, for boys and girls, and also in caring for the poor and needy. Their charitable activities build on prevailing social relations and mutual assistance institutions. There are, however, certain traditions that conflict with Christian religious beliefs (e.g. witchcraft, traditional healing remedies, initiation rights, gender roles), and some churches are determined to pull their congregations into "modernity".

The churches that are most successful in recruiting members are those that blend traditional institutions and beliefs with new ideas and opportunities that result in real material benefits for their congregations, for instance: in supporting village education, credit and savings groups, farmers’ associations, food for work programmes, HIV-AIDS prevention, and agricultural extension and communication campaigns. Furthermore, churches fill a vacuum in village leadership in situations where both traditional authorities and local government are weak and lack legitimacy.

The churches typically exact fees from members and enforce behaviour restrictions. Depending upon the church, there are prohibitions against polygamy, consumption, making and selling of alcohol, and belonging to the military or political parties. Membership dues can be quite high as compared with the meagre means of the majority of villagers. The poorer members typically contribute with free labour on church-owned farms or the farms of wealthier members. These requirements may be viewed as exploitative and manipulative; however, the churches are full of poor people who believe that both the spiritual and material rewards from their contributions are worthwhile. The research findings show that rural women participate more in church activities than men, and derive great satisfaction from the social interaction around church activities.

Migrant Associations

Field research was carried out in two Oaxacan villages (San Pablo Macuiltianguis (SPM), San Juan Teitipac (SJT)) and in Los Angeles, California to better understand the role of migrant associations in supporting the rural livelihoods and communal life of "sending" communities (Annex 9). In both SPM and SJT more than half of the population lives outside the community, mainly in Los Angeles. Migration remittances are a major source of income: three-quarters of the immigrants regularly send to their households an average of US$100 per month.

Migrants form migrant associations (MAs) in part to establish support networks in the immigrant communities, and in part to remedy the negative social and economic consequences of out-migration on the sending communities they come from. Membership in MAs is open to anyone from the sending community who pays dues. The association's officers are typically drawn from the more experienced, older and better-off migrant population, nearly always men, while the women are very active in organizing fund-raising events.

MAs typically share the dual objective to improve the lives of their members as immigrants, and to support their communities of origin in various ways. As an "information clearinghouse" where new and old migrants meet to share experiences, the MAs are able to reduce the costs and risks of migration, and increase the likelihood of success in finding and retaining work. Another important activity is to raise funds to support religious and cultural festivals back home. Through their capacity to quickly collect and generate funds, MAs also act as an informal "insurer" in case of emergencies (in Los Angeles or Mexico). Some migrant associations are involved in financing economic development initiatives as well, though less so in Oaxaca than in such states as Zacatecas and Nuevo Leon.

The two SPM migrant associations focus primarily on the organization of entertainment events to raise funds for the annual cultural festival in SPM (la Guelaguetza). In contrast, the SJT migrant association (Nueva Experanza - NE) is primarily interested in supporting socio-economic development initiatives: "Several meetings were organized in SJT to define the main future axis of collaboration between the diverse local institutions and NE. At present, several projects are being considered... (e.g. financial help for the kindergarten, the drainage system, the construction of a dam for irrigation, or the creation of a tourist corridor to promote local handicraft activities). A tacit deal was struck between NE and the local institutions: the association provides the financial, technical and logistic support, and in return the community provides the labour force and keeps the ventures in good order." (Annex 9).

Traditional Savings and Credit Arrangements

Similar to the mutual assistance institutions, these arrangements function as joint liability groups and are based on social relations of trust, reciprocity, and obligation. Repayment by the borrower is tied to reputation and social standing - one’s "social collateral" for future loans. Likewise, wealthier village members are expected to lend money and food to needy villagers as a means to maintain their good standing and reputation in society.

Flexibility to borrow small amounts, quickly, with minimal transaction costs, is vital in adverse environments with frequent drought, harvest failure and sickness. Cashpoor farmers may borrow cash for land preparation and repay at harvest time. These arrangements also avoid the need for "disaster selling" of prized savings for every cash need. Formal credit and savings institutions are absent in most of rural Mozambique (as in many rural villages throughout the world), and in any case the terms and requirements are not appropriate for the cash needs of the poor. Under traditional arrangements, the poor can participate as long as they have good social standing.

The institutional profile is of traditional savings and credit arrangements in the village of Bahi in the semi-arid central region of Tanzania (Dodoma). Ninety percent of income is derived from agro-pastoralism with sorghum, bulrush millet and maize as main food crops, and cows, goats and sheep kept "as an insurance against famine". Villagers save in rice paddy, cattle and jewellery.

"Indigenous forms of savings and credit form part of this complex of livelihood strategies. When agriculture is risky, people save in cattle and other farm animals. When social customs require bride price to be paid at the time of marriage, they save in the form of jewellery and other valued goods. And because savings are mostly embodied in multi-use assets - with relatively small amounts kept in cash - villagers on occasion seek credit in cash from fellow villagers of greater means. These types of "contracts" are informal, without recourse to the law, so village lenders may provide credit only to persons who have a good reputation in the community." (Annex 10)

Table 9 summarizes the objectives and outcomes of several IFAD and FAO agricultural credit projects in the region, based on the thesis research of Jochem Zoetelief, Department of Social Science, Wageningen Agricultural University. Only a Catholic Church-sponsored women’s savings association initiative was well accepted and sustained over time. The far right column explains the main reasons for the failure of the other projects.

Table 9: Savings and Credit Projects in Dodoma, Tanzania¹⁵

Watershed Development User Committees

In response to a critical situation of increasing human and cattle population pressure in drought-prone agricultural villages of Rajasthan, a programme of integrated watershed development was launched in 1990 by the State government, supported by the World Bank and the Indian Ministry of Agriculture. The project was largely directed toward increasing fuel wood and fodder productivity on common lands, and grain yield increases through soil and water conservation.

Several aspects of the Rajasthan Watershed Development Programme worked well and explain its success in achieving many-fold increases in fodder, fuel and grain production: 1) local planning of programme activities, guided by village-elected User Committees (UC); 2) introduction of effective and low-cost agronomic, forestry and pasture management practices by a newly created Department of Watershed Management (DWM); 3) training of UC members and para-professionals in a range of technical and management skills; and 4) development of village nurseries to ensure long-term supply of vegetative material.

Furthermore, the financial arrangement where government covered about 80 percent of the programme cost, and villagers covered 10 - 20 percent, primarily in labour and local materials, proved realistic and sustainable. Devolving a major portion of the funds to the User Committees to manage was an innovative strategy that resulted in greater transparency and participation at village level.

Nevertheless, not all villages were equally successful, despite having the same agro-ecological conditions and level of government funding. A study of the programme (Annex 11, Krishna & Uphoff 1999) found two major explanations - one, differences in the behaviour and quality of the DWM staff, and two, differences in village "stocks of social capital", which impacted on their greater or lesser ability to plan, manage and sustain collective activities for the common good.

The study by Krishna shows that the investment in building the capacities of village User Committees, thereby, reinforcing existing stocks of social capital, is paying off in unexpected directions. The same leadership structure has moved forward to promote new development initiatives of priority importance to the villages:

".... In Nauwa village of Udaipur district, for example, universal female literacy is a new goal that villagers have set themselves and which they are implementing with the help of their UC. The Committee in Sangawas village of Rajsamand district has organized a savings group in which many villagers have become members. In Andheri Deori, in Ajmer district, poultry and rabbit rearing activities have been organized among villagers by their UC." (Annex 11)

Ancestral Domain Claims and Community-based Natural Resource Management

This is a case where a long history of repression of traditional peoples and their institutions is being turned around. The two-decade struggle for self-determination of the Cordillera indigenous peoples in Luzon, Philippines, has engendered since the 1990s a more enlightened and enabling legislative and policy framework for local participation in local development. Civil unrest in the region, culminating in armed conflict and military occupation, was rooted in the consistent denial of a local voice in the exploitation of their rich natural resources - prime forest and precious minerals - and the worsening poverty of the 1.25 million indigenous inhabitants.

After the toppling of the Marcos regime in 1986 it was possible to make some headway with peace negotiations. In 1993 the Constitutional Commission upheld the rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands and natural resources Under the new law, eligible groups could apply for a "Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims" that confers to the group the right to participate in all decisions affecting the land and natural resources within their ancestral domain. However, eligibility was conditional upon prior clear demarcation of boundaries, settling of disputes, and preparing and submitting Ancestral Domain Resource Management Plans (ADRMPs) for government approval.

To meet this challenge it was essential to involve and revitalize the traditional institutions and authorities of the Cordillera that held the knowledge and legitimacy for making land related decisions. The NGO PANCORDI (Pan-Cordillera Women's Network for Peace and Development), a coalition of women's groups of the Cordillera region, proved to be an effective intermediary between the traditional institutions and the government:

"It was necessary to gain the cooperation of traditional village councils and their leaders, and women volunteers helped to build the bridges that were necessary to link local institutions with government agencies. It was not easy for women volunteers to penetrate the all-male domains of the ator and day-ap. It helped that these women had played critical roles earlier by serving as intermediaries between villagers and militants, and these efforts had been admired, if only grudgingly, by all villagers."

With the help of PANCORDI and government advisors, villagers and their traditional institutions learned the skills of area planning and resource management as a necessary step toward developing alternative models of local and regional development. In contrast to the shortsighted natural resource exploitation of the past, examples of ADRMPs include micro-scale mining, micro-hydroelectric and irrigation projects, and proposed tramline installation through fragile lands rather than road construction.

A new structure of regional governance is underway in the Cordillera that is based upon cooperation and respect between traditional institutions and the municipalities. After centuries of mistrust, and decades of open warfare, these are the types of innovative institutional arrangements that are needed to give peace a chance:

"Representatives from village and municipality councils will come together to constitute the regional body, and it will function as the apex traditional institution of the Cordillera. This regional body is expected to forge closer linkages between customary laws and practices, on the one hand, and formal government systems, on the other, both of which provide necessary institutional supports for sustainable development of the region."